In Sleepy Upstate Town, An Old West Showdown

By MONTE WILLIAMS

Published: April 27, 1997

GARDINER, N.Y.—
It seemed like the perfect fit to Chris Mercier. He would build a replica of an Old West town -- Tombstone, Ariz., to be exact -- next to Mountainview Stables, here in this quiet rural town just south of New Paltz.

Horse lovers would come not merely for trail rides, but for a taste of the Old West. There would be re-enactments of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Film makers would use the 100-by-40-foot replica as a set. He had it all mapped out. He even started construction.

But neighbors -- especially the Huguenot Historical Society, which owns property next door -- thought an Old West town would be out of sync with the Colonial-era houses in the area.

''It's incongruous,'' said Timothy Harley, the historical society's director. He said he could see the new construction from the society's property, which is a national historic landmark. The property consists of an 1814 Federal mansion and a 1738 stone house that was once owned by Josiah Hasbrouck, a lieutenant in the Revolutionary War and a United States Congressman during the Presidencies of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

''If the right kind of project was going there it would be fine,'' Mr. Harley said. ''We're not opposed to business. But I think this would be quite detracting.''

But Mr. Mercier, who planned to erect a sheriff's office and a saloon as well as facades of a theater and photography studio, does not see things that way. And he says he has plenty of support. ''Everyone in town who has stopped me said, 'Fight them on this. It'll be good for tourism, good for the town.' ''

But the building inspector for Gardiner issued an order stopping work in March, explaining that the area was not zoned for such an enterprise. Now, Mr. Mercier is seeking a variance from the zoning board, but neighbors are trying to prevent that from happening.

Mr. Mercier says he thinks resistance to his idea harks back to bad blood between the former owner of the stables, Murray Adler, and the Historical Society. There is a history of litigation between the two.

''Murray had a bar and a restaurant here, and he would have horse shows that lasted until 2 or 3 in the morning,'' Mr. Mercier said. ''The noise level here was tremendous.'' Mr. Adler still owns the land, which Mr. Mercier leases.

Charles Glasner, who owns an antiques shop nearby, is not convinced that Mountainview should be expanding. ''I'm not opposed to any business that is properly maintained and run,'' he said. ''But I don't think they have an adequate number of people working there or adequate fencing to keep the horses in.''

One of the major complaints against Mountainview is that horses break out and trample on neighbors' lawns. ''They have a 40-horse herd, and when they get out they go stampeding, tearing up the surface of lawns,'' Mr. Harley said. ''Chris has never come to me and asked if they can repair the damage.''

Without the tiny Tombstone, Mr. Mercier, who bought the business in the summer of 1995, says he may shut down. ''In the 80's it was no problem getting 125 rides a day,'' he said. ''Now it's a struggle to get 100. Plus, this is a seasonal business.''

Scott Shepherd, president of Gridlock Productions, a New York production company, and the founder of The Frontier Riders, a Wild West re-enactment group that already performs at Mountainview Stables, helped come up with the concept and planned to shoot country-western music videos and a western documentary there. He thinks people from the Historical Society are being small-minded.

''When they hear about city slickers coming in and doing something, people get proprietary,'' he said. ''They want things the way they always were.''

As for such activities being out of character with the Colonial era, Mr. Mercier said the Huguenot Society holds Civil War and Revolutionary War re-enactments, even though there were no battles in Gardiner. ''They do camp-outs and shoot off black powder guns and everything else,'' he said.